Race 2 - March 1: Macheras Mountains Time Trial

Paulissen wins again while time trial queen Hurikova captures victory

In the second stage of the Afxentia stage race at Mantra tou Kampiou in Cyprus,
Belgian Roel Paulissen claimed another win ahead of Swede Fredrik Kessiakoff
by 29 seconds in the 7.4km time trial. Magnus Darvell of Sweden finished third,
three more seconds back. In the women's race, former junior world time trial
champion Tereza Hurikova showed her time trialing prowess. She finished 30 seconds
ahead of a surprising Alexandra Engen and 41 seconds in front of Heather Irmiger.

On a technical demanding course with steep downhills

Paulissen was surprised with his results on the technical and demanding course,
with steep downhills. "It's not my discipline at all," said the the
Cannondale-Vredestein rider. "I had a smooth ride through the technical
sections but the last two kilometers were so difficult, I felt no more power
in my legs. These kind of races always hurt you so much - the legs are burning."

Behind him, the race for second was close. Only 16 seconds separated Kessiakoff
and his Full-Dynamix team-mate Emil Lindgren. On this day, Lindgren suffered
some bad luck when he got a front flat with two kilometers to go. The flat may
have cost him second.

Sixth-placed Karl Platt (Bulls) also suffered from a flat tire, yet his still
finished only 19 seconds behind Kessiakoff, who confessed to having a "painful"
ride. "It's 20 minutes of pure suffering. At one place I made a wrong decision
which cost me maybe 10 seconds," he said.

Magnus Darvell, a new name among the other more well known world-class riders,
was satisfied with his third place. "It feels good. For sure. Normally
I train for cross-country but short time trial competitions like this suit me.
The course was fun," said Darvell. After a disappointing point to point
race on Friday, Jaroslav Kulhavy put in a strong time trial to finish fourth.

Roel Paulissen leads the general classification by 5:38 ahead of Kessiakoff
and 7:04 ahead of Lindgren.

Young ladies go fastest in time trial

Sabine Spitz (Central-Ghost) and Petra Henzi (Fischer-BMC) opted not to race
the time trial, and so it was no surprise that Tereza Hurikova (Ceska Sporitelna)
dominated the race against the clock.

"Before the race I was more tired than yesterday but now, after the race,
I feel good," said the winner. "So maybe it will good for tomorrow.
It was even harder than yesterday, and I lost a lot of energy. I had no problems
in the downhill. But I think four laps on this course are gonna be very hard,"
said the 21 year-old.

Hurikova is used to - and good at - time trialing, especially on the road.
At road world championships in 2007 in Germany, she finished 14th and in 2004
she won gold in the junior world championship time trial.

20 year-old Alexandra Engen was all smiles after crossing the line just 30
seconds behind Hurikova. "I like to go really hard. I like to push it.
When you are young you can do it like this, you are faster," said the Swede.
"And I like it when the course is a technical demanding one. Then you get
the butterflies in your stomach."

28 year-old Heather Irmiger couldn't beat her two younger competitors, but
she was not unhappy with her effort. "I had fun and it was a good option
to race between the two cross-country races. So your body doesn't fall in sleep,"
she said.

In the overall, Hurikova leads the Afxentia classement by 6:56 over Engen and
10:55 over Irmiger.